Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Library Loot XXXIX

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries! This week's Library Loot is at Marg's.


I have an unusually large loot this week. I went to the library on Saturday specifically to pick up my favorite cookbook on preserves that I seem to borrow about four times a year when I want to make jam. I'm canning homemade strawberry jam this afternoon from berries I picked last Friday. And because I went to the library on a Saturday and not in the middle of the week minutes before closing, I actually had time to browse the shelves. Which means more books came home. We also discovered a used book sale going on at the library and grabbed a few with minutes to spare before the sale ended.

Classics:
 

A Midsummer Night's Dream edited by Roma Gill
A Midsummer Night's Dream Shakespeare Explained by Joseph Sobran


I am reading Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream this month for the Once Upon a Time V reading challenge. I haven't read Shakespeare since high school, which was a long time ago, so I picked up two different publications to make sure I understood it all. This Shakespeare stuff is not easy! One book contains a summary of the entire play, followed by the original work. The second book is sort of an overview and interpretation of the play, information about various modern film and stage productions,  and also includes biographical information about Shakespeare and his time period in general.

Edgar Allan Poe's Tales of Death and Dementia
by Edgar Allan Poe, illustrated by Gris Grimly

My teen has been studying Poe in her sophomore AP lit class recently and really likes his work. Again, I haven't read Poe since high school myself, so when I happened to see this graphic novel at the library, I knew it was meant to come home with me. I find it rather ironic that my teen is reading the straight text versions of Poe's works as well as a biography and here I am reading the graphic novel. But there ya' go.

In graphic novels:



Harvey by Hervé Bouchard and illustrated by Janice Nadeau
Burnout by Rebecca Donner and illustrated by Inaki Miranda
A.D. New Orleans After the Deluge by Josh Neufeld

In young adult:
My daughter and I spent a chunk of time browsing the young adult shelves at the library together. We clearly have different ideas about borrowing books. I am more along the lines of the"looks good? okay, bring it home!" method.  She's a bit pickier about which books actually make it to the check out counter. She's more along the lines of "carefully inspect every book that might be interesting, scrutinize the inside flap, book blurb, maybe read the first chapter or even --gasp! -- a random few pages IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BOOK, and THEN decide if she wants to borrow it" method. Even then, she still hems and haws with an "I'm not sure, Mom." I always follow up with, "Well, then borrow it. You can read more of it STARTING AT PAGE ONE at home and decide then. We can always return unread it if you don't like it." About 45 minutes later, she has one or two books picked out. Meanwhile, I've been standing around pulling a dozen or so books into a pile and then realizing it's too many to physically carry and I put a few back for next time.

Which method is more your style? 

My choices:

 
Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool
This book is the 2011 recipient of the Newberry Medal.

Nothing by Janne Teller
This book has been awarded the Michael J. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature. It's short, but sounds thought provoking.

Chime by Franny Bllingsley
I've seen this one around quite a bit and love the cover. I read the book blurb and was sold.


Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson
I started following Maureen Johnson on twitter a week or two ago following the Wall Street Journal's critical article about young adult fiction when she, author Libba Bray and others responded intelligently and compassionately to the WSJ's claims and the #YASaves hashtag was born. When I saw one of her books on the shelf at my library, I figured it would be nice to read the work of an author I follow on twitter. ;)

Things I Know About Love by Kate Le Vann
This story is about a teenager from the UK who is in remission with leukemia and travels to the US to visit her brother who is a student at Princeton University, where she falls for her brother's friend. Looks like a good story.

Daughter's choices: (not pictured)
Gifted: Finders Keepers by Marilyn Kaye
Gifted: Now You See Me by Marilyn Kaye
These are the fourth and fifth books, respectively of the Gifted series by this author--a series about a group of nine teens who attend an ordinary high school but wield unique psychic gifts or powers. She read the first three books last summer, maybe.

Bought at Friends of Library Used Book Sale:
The first two are my picks, the second two are my daughter's. We bought all four books for $1.

Shoot the Moon by Billie Letts
Love the title.
Call Me Mrs. Miracle by Debbie Macomber
I've just realized I've been collecting little hardcover Christmas themed stories like this one every time I go to these used book sales at my library. It wasn't a planned collection up to this point, but I think it will be now!
Secrets of my Hollywood Life by Jen Calonita
Now Starring Vivien Leigh Reid by Yvonne Collins and Sandy Rideout


Now I'm off to make strawberry jam...  :)

9 comments:

  1. Good luck with the jam making. I'm interested in hearing what you think about Nothing and Chime. Love the cover of Chime by the way. Enjoy!

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  2. Awesome loot! The Poe book looks interesting!!! I really liked Maureen Johnson's 13 Little Blue Envelopes but everything else has been a little lackluster, in my opnion. I never finished Suite Scarlett, even though it was entertaining it just kinda lost me somewhere. I hope you enjoy it more! Happy "jammin'" ;)

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  3. You have a fabulous haul from the library. I pick out books like your daughter. I hem and haw and read the blurbs and then the first few sentences and sometimes even a few random words or pages in the middle. I think it's because writers are taught to grab you with the first sentence, but having something from the middle that grabs you? That's harder.

    Enjoy your books!

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  4. Oh my goodness, I just bought Well Preserved~~~ :D It was all those wonderful pictures you had of the last strawberry jams you made.

    We can make jams together even if it's across the country. :D

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  5. I have Chime on my shelves as well and am looking forward to reading it. I'm also curious to hear your thoughts on it when you get the chance to read it. Enjoy your books! And strawberry jam of course :)

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  6. All the best with the jam making! And that preserves book looks gorgeous :)

    And...before I used to go to the library just to pick up my library holds (I've had a huge hold list for so long I don't know what it is like to browse) I used to pick books just like your daughter does. Almost exactly in fact :)

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  7. Excellent haul! You're bound to have some good reading ahead of you will all those choices. :)

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  8. LOL, I think you should buy that book :) It's be a good investment... although it's true that you can borrow it and it's free. Hmmm, but it seems like you really like that book LOL.

    And you've picked up a lot of books :) lots of different things :) Seems to me you've also jumped on the graphic novels bandwagon! :)

    LOL, I'm like you in picking the book. Great cover, good blurb, sounds good, let's go LOL.

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  9. Linda, I'll let you know my thoughts on Nothing and Chime when I get to them. I'm looking forward to both!

    Mollie, I'm going to read the Poe book this week. It's a quick one as it's in graphic novel type format.

    I think I have 13 Little Blue Envelopes on my iPad come to think of it. I hope I like her writing. Like I said in my post, I recently started following Maureen Johnson on twitter and I really enjoy her voice and style there.. but I know that doesn't always translate equally to her "work".

    Brandy, I'm so intrigued by this "hem and haw" method of choosing a library book. At the bookstore, I can understand. At the library I'm a lot quicker to say "okay" and then return if I change my mind. lol

    little_alys, YOU DID?!! I think I should buy it, too instead of bringing it back and forth to the library all year long. LOL! I just made the strawberry jam over the weekend, but am planning on blueberry jam in July. We can jam together! ;)

    samantha, we should definitely compare notes about Chime when we both get to it.

    orannia, now that I've been making jam for a couple of years, the whole process is a lot easier. As long as I have the jars clean and ready to go the hardest part is waiting for the huge pot of water to boil to do the canning part.

    Ah.. and I see you are in the "hem and haw" book choosing category. lol!

    Leslie, thanks! I'm actually making progress reading them, too! lol!

    nath, I think you're right. I have a "cart" full of books on amazon right now for Maria's required summer reading for history and english lit, so I think I'll just add it in there... ;)

    I am loving the graphic novels! It's an especially sneaky way to get caught up on some classics. ;)

    Thank goodness another "sounds good, let's go" library book chooser! *high five*

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